Digital Commons Network^™

Nietzsche And Socrates: Reflections Of Redefined Virtue In Greek Tragedy, Kyle M. Lowry

Senior Honors Theses

The works of Friedrich Nietzsche were used to study how Greek Tragedy was “born” and “died,” particularly in relation to the rise of Socratic philosophy in Ancient Greece. The intoxicated “Dionysian” and disciplinary, artistic “Apollinian,” are the elements Nietzsche claims encompass and catalyze human experience; the former containing the primal nature of the Being, and the latter containing the ordering through which identity is formed and art is created. Tragedy, the art form perfectly balancing these two elements was “born” within the conditions of a Dionysian Pessimism, by which the inevitable life of suffering was redeemed aesthetically. Socrates introduced rationality …

The Brain And Becoming: Integrating Play And Performance-Based Learning In The Community College Classroom, Hannah M. Green

English

Instruction in the community college classroom is in need of a shift, according to neuroscientific, pedagogical, and demographic data. Primarily, students in today’s community college classrooms are instructed in the form of lectures (Nilson 106), but research has shown that game-based learning would be the way to enhance learning experiences for these adult learners. Game-based learning specifically takes form in student learning through games, interactive reading activities such as performance pedagogy, discussions, and small group work. While research shows that play-based learning at the community college level is neurologically beneficial for students, there is a gap in implementing play-based learning …

Leading While Black: An Examination Of The Black Supervisor Experience Overseeing White Subordinates In Higher Education, Colette Marie Tobias

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This study examines how systemic racism and social capital hierarchies shape the supervisory experiences of Black supervisors. While existing literature has explored leadership and race, it has not fully examined how systemic racism shape Black supervisors’ experiences or how social capital hierarchies play into the behavioral responses of white subordinates. This study addresses that gap by centering the lived experiences of Black supervisors within higher education.

Grounded in narrative inquiry, this research focuses on how participants make meaning of their experiences through their stories. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals with 19 Black supervisors who had at …

Elevation, Demographic Composition, And Suicide Rates: A Municipality-Level Analysis In Colorado And Wyoming, Steven Loader

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Evaluation In Applied Ai: Predictive Modeling, Agent Safety, And Model Validation, Tanmay Sah

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation focuses on three applied challenges in machine learning and artificial intelligence: predicting social media content virality, evaluating safety in tool using large language model agents, and standardizing model validation in regulated settings. Across these domains, the dissertation argues that evaluation in applied AI must be matched to context, combining predictive performance with the relevant evidence needed for interpretability, safety, reproducibility, and governance readiness. First, Decoding Reddit Memes Virality extracts and analyzes 16,968 posts using computer vision, natural language processing, and gradient boosting to identify visual, textual, and temporal signals associated with virality. Second, The Verifier Tax designs and …

Rachel F. Moran, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty CVs

No abstract provided.

What Is Happening In Major League Baseball? A Structural Snapshot In An Evolving Economic Landscape: A Case Study, Max K. Shilstone

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This qualitative case study examines the most visible business and economic factors currently impacting Major League Baseball (MLB). Specifically, it analyzes how current labor and collective bargaining issues, the changing media and broadcasting landscape, and the league’s reliance on locally generated revenue are shaping the league’s current and future business environment. Using a multi-method qualitative approach, this case study draws from academic scholarship, contemporary industry reporting, league documents, existing interviews, and six semi-structured interviews with professionals working in or around MLB. The evidence was analyzed through thematic coding and triangulated across sources to identify recurring themes and validate emerging findings. …

Foreword, Hon. Robert J. Luck

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1910.

Objects In The Sunset, Iskander Guetta

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

This research explores everyday design practices in the Maghreb shaped by economic, political, and ecological struggles amid transnational debates on decolonizing design. To do so, it looks at objects in, through and with the sunset. Taking المغرب — the place where the sun sets — as a conceptual lens, Objects in the Sunset illuminates the savoir-faire born from dispossession, scarcity, and epistemic violence. Working across different scales of the built environment — infrastructures, spaces, objects, and materials — it shifts design away from Eurocentric conceptions: from rationalization to resourcefulness, homogeneity to heterogeneity, optimization to adaptation, disposability to repair, and universal …

Learning Through Reading: Confronting Novel Linguistic Forms In Literature, Quinn Doyle

German Studies Honors Projects

How do readers learn to engage with novel forms of written language that fall outside of their established linguistic repertoire? And how do texts themselves facilitate this process? This thesis looks for answers to these questions in literary theory, multilingualism studies, applied linguistics, and a diverse corpus of literary works. I propose a comprehensive descriptive vocabulary of novel language use in literature, and then observe how these frameworks work in concert in an exemplary text by analyzing Christine Brooke-Rose’s multilingual novel Between. I conclude by discussing how the “exceptional” cases explored in this thesis can change our understanding of …

Influences Of Musical Experience On Absolute Pitch Memory, Mia A. Guzman

Music Honors Projects

Absolute pitch (AP), colloquially known as “perfect pitch,” is the ability to identify or recreate any musical note without an external reference tone. While many believe AP is an exceptional, innate musical talent, I argue that AP is a continuous ability influenced by experience. Using a mixed-methods approach that combined behavioral tasks with interviews, I examined AP memory in AP possessors and non-possessors with varying musical backgrounds to understand how experience-based factors, such as language, primary instrument, and the onset and style of musical training, might influence individual performance on established AP measures.

Anti-French Sentiment As A Factor In The Coup Belt, Foster P. Mcgrath

Politics Honors Papers

This thesis examines if anti-French sentiment is a significant factor influencing individuals' support for coups d'état in former French colonies in Africa, mostly in the sub-Saharan Sahel region which has earned the term "Coup Belt."

The Weaponization Of Transnational Crime: A Triangular Analytical Model For Hybrid Threat Development In U.S.–China–Russia Relations, 2000–2025, Michael J. Haak

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the evolving strategic relationship between the United States, China, and Russia from 2000 to 2025 through a triangular model based on reactions to systemic pressures to core strategic interests. The study employs a thematic qualitative data analysis on U.S., Chinese, and Russian national security strategies to analyze strategic posturing between poles over time. This new model serves as the study’s basis for contextualizing hybrid threat development, specifically transnational crime as a proxy force of asymmetric power projection. The study found that the evolution of state-supported transnational crime serves as a by-product of reactions to systemic pressure. State …

Cultural Intelligence (Cq) In Engineering Students: A Case Study Of Northern Ireland And Ireland, Una Beagon, Margaret Morgan

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Globalisation requires engineers to collaborate effectively in diverse teams and communicate across cultural boundaries. To design classroom interventions that foster students’ cultural intelligence (CQ), it is crucial to establish a baseline of current CQ levels. This study surveyed 143 engineering students in Northern Ireland and Ireland, employing The Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS). Findings indicate that the CQ scores of engineering students is comparable to other worldwide studies, scoring highly on Motivational, Metacognitive and Behavioural CQ, but less so on Cognitive CQ. Statistical differences using paired t-tests indicate that women self-report higher scores than men in Cognitive, Motivational and Behavioural CQ …

The Echo: May 4, 2026, Taylor University

2025-2026 (Volume 113)

No abstract provided.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1911.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, May 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, March 1910.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Empowering Educators, Elevating Students: A Multifaceted Approach To Improving Student Academic Success, Amanda Huebner

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This proposal examines the interrelationship between teacher professional development, collaborative planning time, and student academic achievement in rural middle schools. Drawing on data from a central Nebraska district, the study analyzes how targeted, job‑embedded professional learning and structured planning practices empower educators, reduce burnout, and increase engagement among seventh‑ and eighth‑grade students. Using an improvement‑science framework, the research seeks to inform systemic strategies that elevate both teacher efficacy and student outcomes.

An Overview Of Selected Works For Chamber Orchestra: Literature Insights For Conductors Leading Small Orchestra Programs, Ramon Araujo

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This document presents a series of analytical program notes for six orchestral and chamber works spanning four centuries, examined through the intersecting lenses of conductor and educator. The works under consideration, Veracini's Concerto for Violin in D Major, Schubert's Overture to Rosamunde D. 644, Brahms' Serenade No. 2 in A Major Op. 16, Elgar's String Serenade in E Minor Op. 20, Piston's Divertimento for Nine Instruments, and the author's own Tresillos for Orchestra, are treated not merely as historical objects but as active performance problems whose solutions require the integration of scholarly analysis, historically informed practice, and …

A Pedagogy Of Connection: Potentials And Practices For The English Classroom, Alexandra Bissell

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

In a moment characterized by rapid technological advancement and sociopolitical volatility, the academy currently faces the need to redefine what a college education can offer students and reimagine how it delivers on that promise. This dissertation proposes a pedagogy centered on the process of connection as one way that English educators at the collegiate level might approach our teaching and respond to this call. Connection is relational, but also textual and conceptual, and I contend that establishing connection as the catalyst for our pedagogical practices is a powerful way to move forward and support our students’ intellectual growth as well …

Hormesis In Plants: Implications For Weed Management And Crop Production, Luka Milosevic

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Hormesis is a biphasic toxicological phenomenon in which low doses of a stressor stimulate biological performance of an organism, while higher doses inhibit it. In plants, hormesis has been documented following exposure to various environmental stressors, including herbicides, pollutants, and thermal stress. However, the physiological basis of hormesis and its implications for crop production and weed management remain poorly understood. Thus, the objective of this dissertation was to investigate hormetic responses in plants and evaluate their agronomic significance for crops and weeds using representative model species. A combination of field and controlled-environment experiments was conducted to quantify plant responses to …

Investigating Book Challenges: Reasons For Challenges, Changes In Public Opinion, And Removals In U.S. School Districts, Makena Nail

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The American Library Association documented an increase in book challenges in the U.S. in recent years. These are attempts to censor or limit access to books on library and book store shelves and are mostly brought by organizations and elected officials. There is much more research on which particular books are challenged and the reasons for the challenges than on general public opinion about the need for limiting access to books (PBS, 2022; American Library Association, n.d.). Previous research demonstrates that when books are challenged, the underlying goal is protecting community values by limiting access to ideas that some believe …

From Promise To Practice: An Analysis Of The De Jure-De Facto Gap In The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Alyssa S. Piccoli

Honors Scholar Theses

Children with disabilities face educational disparities in the United States despite the existence of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was enacted by the U.S. Congress to ensure a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for such children. As promises of protection are overshadowed by discrepancies in access, quality, and consistency across school districts (Seligman 2005), this paper examines the legal factors that aggravate the paradox between de jure educational rights and their de facto fulfillment for children with autism. To better understand how these challenges manifest in the legal arena, I analyze twenty-four legal cases and seventy claims …

Food Sovereignty In Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Case Study Among Gardeners And Non-Gardeners In Genadendal, Western Cape, Timothy P. Delventhal

Geography Honors Projects

In post-Apartheid South Africa, large-scale commercial farming is promoted by the state as the only viable agricultural development model, while small-scale agriculture is marginalized in development discourse and the national land reform program aimed at addressing historical wrongs. However, food sovereignty movements across the Global South, such as Via Campesina, have promoted small-scale gardening for communities to gain control over their food systems and prevent the distancing of food from the labor that produced it. The research question investigated is whether people in the Genadendal area who grow their own food from gardens have better dietary diversity outcomes and increased …

Johnson Ogunlana V. Warden Allenwood Fci Low

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Knowledge Of Advance Care Planning And Advance Directives Among Us Adults: Implications For Health Policy And Practice, Anisah Bagasra, Gretchen Agans

Faculty Articles

Background:

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Cross-Cultural Study Of Recruitment And Selection Practices In Nigeria And The United Kingdom, Ugochukwu Chukwu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Rider (2026-05-04), Daniela Chapa-Reyes

The Rider Archives

Vol. 11, No. 29